


All The Delights Of The Season

by FondOfReading



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Basically full of fluff, F/M, Fluff, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Shirbert, bash is the worst chaperone ever, fluff fluff fluff, gilbert and anne spend a day in the orchard, they read sense&sensibility too, wrote this because i needed it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24099067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FondOfReading/pseuds/FondOfReading
Summary: It is one thing for a couple to love each other from more than a thousand miles away ; it is a whole other thing to have an entire summer in front of them to enjoy each other's company.Or, on a sweet summer day, Anne decides to visit Gilbert as he's working in the orchard.
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe & Anne Shirley, Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Comments: 33
Kudos: 180





	All The Delights Of The Season

**Author's Note:**

> Here's to the first oneshot I ever wrote ! I haven't written anything in years, so what you're about to read is me getting back into it. I just had this image of Anne reading to Gilbert in the orchard, and then I realized I needed this, so I wrote it myself (thank you to Tita and Ines for saving my ass with their comments and feedback !)  
> The title is from the soundtracks of the movie Sense and Sensibility (1995), and all the quotes you'll read in the fic are from the Jane Austen novel Sense and Sensibility (in case you hadn't caught that yet, I'm a big Jane Austen fan).
> 
> Brace yourself for A LOT of fluff. Hope you'll enjoy!

Summer was beginning sweetly in the Cuthbert household. Anne was slowly growing back into her old habits ; how she had missed those early mornings, when the sun was just rising and filling her gable room with this golden fade. How she had missed walking through the woods on a sunny day, and looking up to the trees, trying to recognize the different species of birds and leaves her eyes caught. But most of all, how she had missed her family. On her first evening back at Green Gables, they had all gathered in the parlor, Marilla occupying herself with her needlework and Matthew smoking his pipe, quietly laid back in his armchair. Anne had taken a book to read, but here on the sofa, surrounded by the two people she most cared for with her whole heart, all she could do was look at them fondly, breathing in this calm domestic moment she had so very longed for during her stay at Blackmore House. She loved cohabiting with the girls, but the very loud Jane and the chatty Ruby would never have allowed such a moment of peace.

A few days after Anne’s return to Green Gables, it was the Blythe-Lacroix household’s turn to welcome the boy whom they hadn’t seen since spring break. Toronto was far and the train tickets were expensive, which made it even more difficult for Gilbert to see his family than for Anne. The young lovers had exchanged many letters ; despite the distance, Anne felt like she was as close to Gilbert as ever. All this confusion of feelings before they had begun courting had made it difficult for them to actually talk about their lives, their thoughts, and all the little things that happened in the other’s head. They had spent years tiptoeing around each other, and grabbing onto every little piece of information they could find about the other.

Now, the thousand miles between them came as both a blessing and a curse. They had poured their hearts into those letters, expressing their deepest feelings, their fears, their moments of doubts. They had tried to describe as precisely as possible the lives they were leading apart from each other, and as time went by, Anne got to learn small things about Gilbert, things that made him so very... him. She now knew that Gilbert was very much a night owl, and that he liked to drink his coffee in bed while reading his lesson for the day one last time (a detail she had learnt as he told her how he had spilt his drink all over his sheets once, and had arrived late to a class for the first time in years, interrupting the lesson of a particularly scary teacher. _“I really thought his eyes were going to kill me right there and then”_ , he had recounted). She cherished each one of his words, holding on to every piece of him she could. Some nights, when she found herself missing him so much it hurt, she tried to comfort herself by reading those letters. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine him sitting at his desk, pen in his mouth as he tried to find these very words. When the pain and longing were the worst, she would read again and again the sentences in which he described all the things he would like to do with her when summer would come. She pictured his words the best she could, thanking God for the strong imagination he had granted her. Oh, how she longed for those moments of them laying for hours in the grass, talking about nothing and everything, or walking through the woods arm in arm. She often fell asleep with a small smile on her face, dreaming of distant summer days.

And summer came, bringing Gilbert back to her. To their great sorrow, they quickly understood that they would not be able to spend as much time together as they would’ve liked to. Gilbert being back also meant he had to help Bash on the farm, and Anne was reminded that living at Green Gables came with chores to do. However, whenever the two sweethearts could find time to see each other, they made sure to put it in good use ; this is how Matthew had once found them laying in the fields behind Green Gables, laughing as Anne placed a flower crown on Gilbert’s curls. The old man had quickly looked away when he saw the boy bending forward to place a kiss on Anne’s lips. One day, as Anne had finished all her chores in the house and was sitting on the porch, enjoying the sun, she remembered the words in one of Gilbert’s letters.

_“Today in anatomy class, I wasn’t able to get this one image out of my mind. I pictured you, sitting against the biggest apple tree in our orchard, reading a book to me aloud as I was picking apples from the tree. The thought brought me such joy that I completely forgot where I was, and didn’t realize Mr. Lawrence was right beside me, asking if it was the diagram of the phalanges that put such a foolish smile on my face. I dared not answer that he wasn’t completely wrong, as imagining your fingers picking some apples with me does indeed bring a smile to my face (although I do hope the smile isn’t as foolish as he says, as I wear it every time I’m around you).”_

Anne didn’t wait a second longer before hopping on her feet and rushing upstairs to find the book she had in mind, and once she had it in hand, headed to the Blythe-Lacroix’s orchard. When her eyes found Bash and Gilbert, she slowed down, taking the time to admire the brown-haired boy from afar (she would never let him see how much pleasure she took from observing the lines of his back, and how the muscles of his forearms looked with his sleeves rolled-up). It was only when Bash called out to her that she realized that she had maybe been staring a little too long.

“Queen Anne, care to join us here? You’ll have a better view of Gilbert from where I am. Although it’s maybe not the angle you’re looking for... “

She felt her face redden as she walked across the trees to get to them. She hit Bash’s arm (who was still laughing very proudly at his joke) before turning to Gilbert, whose face was as red as hers, but crossed by a very amused smile.

“I was only admiring the trees, the apples look splendid this year!” Anne unconvincingly replied, crossing her arms.

Bash’s laughter doubled thanks to her unsuccessful attempt to defend herself, and Gilbert pushed him towards the house, telling him to go calm down far away from them. Bash shot him a mischievous look, which clearly meant “I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone, make good use of that”. When Bash was out of sight, the boy walked closer to his redheaded sweetheart and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

“So, to what do I owe the honor of your presence here, my dear? Were you just here to look at my back? Because if that’s the case I suggest you sit over there, you’ll have the best view in the orchard, I can assure you that.”

It was Gilbert’s arm’s turn to be hit by Anne, as she rolled her eyes at his teasing tone.

“Mmh, I was here to fulfill your daydream of me reading to you as you work on the trees, but I guess that will be for another day, Mr. Blythe.” Anne declared as she turned around, knowing fully that he won’t let her go too far.

Indeed, Gilbert was quick to put his arms around her waist, bringing her back to him. He placed a kiss on the top of her head as he murmured into her hair: “That seems nice”. Anne held his arms close to her a few more seconds before liberating herself, and sitting down against the closest tree. She picked up her book, and cleared her throat as she began reading.

_“The family Dashwood had been long settled in Sussex. Their estate was large, and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so respectable a manner, as to engage the general good opinion of their surrounding acquaintance...”_

As Anne became more and more concentrated on her reading, Gilbert became less and less concentrated on the apples. Instead, he leant against the tree and let his eyes wander on her face. His smile grew fonder as he saw her eyebrows furrow when she read a particularly long sentence, or when she chuckled at one of the character’s comeback. It was one thing to read her thoughts in letters, but seeing them displayed on her face was completely different. He wondered how he could’ve had so much trouble understanding what was happening in her mind only a year ago, when now he felt as though he could understand everything she wanted without her speaking a word. Lost into his thoughts, the boy did not notice Anne had stopped reading. It was only when he felt an apple hit his head that he was brought back to reality.

“Ouch! First a slate, now an apple? Really Carrots, do you want to cause me brain damage?”

Anne laughed as she took his hand in hers, forcing him to sit down beside her.

“If you’re not going to work, you might as well read with me.” She chuckled. She let him put his head on her shoulder, inhaling the sweet scent of his hair, before continuing to read where she left off.

_“To satisfy me, those characters must be united. I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in every point coincide with my own. He must enter into all my feelings; the same books, the same music must charm us both.”_

Gilbert was waiting for her to continue reading, but she did not. He looked up at her, only to see her smile faintly. She seemed amused, although Gilbert didn’t quite understand how the scene she was reading could cause her to chuckle like that.

“What is it?” he queried.

She closed her book as she detached herself from it to look at him. She let his hazel eyes swim into her ocean blue eyes for a few seconds before explaining :

“It’s just funny. Two years ago, I would have agreed with everything Marianne said about love. I couldn’t picture myself falling in love with someone who would not be able to quote Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice by heart, or someone who didn’t have the same passion for words and nature as I do. I thought that I could only fall for the most kindred of kindred spirits, and truly believed that a soulmate was someone whose soul was the exact same as yours. Now here we are, two years later, and I know that there’s so much more to it than that. Love isn’t about enjoying the same book or the same music. A soulmate must complete you, widen your horizon, challenge you. What is the point in living your life with someone who knows just as much as you do? That’s what I find so special about us; we’re both driven by different passions, but at the end of the journey we always find each other. It doesn’t matter if I don’t understand a damn thing about medicine, or if you don’t dive into books like I do. Don’t you think it would be boring, if you and I agreed on every little thing?” She sighed before concluding:” Falling in love with someone really is a pesky business.”

Gilbert stayed silent for a few seconds before saying:

“Are you telling me I read all of Jane Austen’s novels for you to tell me it didn’t matter if I did or not? Well, that was a waste of time.” teased the boy, only to get hit by Anne a second time. His features softened as he continued: “I love you for all the things you just said. And I love you because I would have never been able to put it into words, and you did. _Sometimes I have kept my feelings to myself, because I could find no language to describe them._ ”

“Gilbert Blythe! Did you just quote Jane Austen?” exclaimed the redhead in disbelief. He chuckled as he nodded proudly, his nose scrunched up.

“As you said so well, you widened my horizon.”

Before he even finished talking, Anne pressed her mouth against his. As a response, he slid his arm around her waist, and adjusted his position for them to be more comfortable. Their kiss started soft and peaceful ; surrounded by the orchard and the sun shining on them, the couple felt as close to heaven as can be. They hadn’t had the opportunity to kiss as much as they would’ve liked since the holiday began, as Marilla or Hazel were never too far, but each time they did, they knew they had to enjoy the rare moment. The tenderness of the kiss soon turned into something more desperate, something that was meant to compensate for all those months spent apart but never felt enough. Without realizing it, they both ended up laying in the middle of leaves and flowers, pouring all their energy into each other. The need to close the space between them was growing more intense every second; they pressed their bodies to each other, tangled legs and tongues together, letting their breaths mingle. After what could’ve been minutes, hours or even days, Anne rested her forehead on Gilbert’s, leaving her arms around his neck. They both giggled as they looked at each other and saw the state they were in. The back of Anne’s dress was stained from the soil, something she would probably have trouble explaining to Marilla, and Gilbert’s curls had never looked this messy. He helped her get up, and picked some leaves from her loose hair (some hairpins were probably lost in the earlier process). Finally, he placed a small kiss on the tip of her nose as Anne breathed out a small “I love you”.

Moments like these were all kept away in the world Anne and Gilbert had created together, the two lovers keeping them to themselves, as if they were secrets. That summer of 1900 was one of stolen kisses among apple trees, hidden touches under the table and deep conversations in the barn; a summer of sweet, youthful love. But most of all, that summer of 1900 was the first summer of many to come.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading ! Don't hesitate to leave a comment, I'd love to have your feedback.  
> Hope you're all safe and healthy during those crazy times !


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